Part I: Coal in America: A history of work, values, and conflict --
Coal is a rock that burns --
The turn from wood to coal: A revolution in Britain and America --
My lamp is my sun: The workplace and the work --
My father's unfailing kindness: Miners and managers in coal's preindustrial era, 1860-1880 --
The haven of justice and right is our destination: Coal miners and the Civil War --
Beaten all to smash: The rise and fall of the workingmen's benevolent association --
Pennsylvania is swarming with foreigners: Owners, workers, and methods in transformation, 1880-1890 --
A closing up of our ranks: Miners and their unions in the new era, 1880-1900 --
Part II: Coal in the American West: Catalyst of conflict and change --
Reflections at midpoint --
Capitalists, railroads, and coal: Agents in the transformation of the West --
No time to improve his intellect: Miners in the Rocky Mountain West, 1880-1903 --
We have grievous wrongs: The Colorado coal strike, 1903-1904 --
Who live like rates: Managers and miners reorganize, 1905-1913 --
The voice of the gun: The Colorado fuel and iron strike, 1913-1914 --
We are up against a stone wall: The road to defeat --
Organizing consent: The rise of corporate liberalism.